Japan's fairytale run to the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals was a highlight of last year's tournament but with the afterglow all but gone captain Michael Leitch fears not enough is being done to secure the Brave Blossoms a place at the game's top table.

Japan's Top League is cancelling the remaining 42 matches of the season to help stem the spread of the coronavirus and safeguard the health of players and spectators, organisers of the rugby union competition said in a statement on Monday.

They have just 12 more games. Their home games remain shrouded in uncertainty. And they're coming off consecutive 45-plus point defeats. But with rugby buzzing after the World Cup, the Sunwolves are simply getting on with the job, as Jake Schatz explains.